The regulator received close to 2.4 million responses to its consultation paper, of which 1.89 million came through Facebook’s platform to promote Free Basics.Anandita Singh Mankotia | ET Bureau | Updated: January 12, 2016, 08:00 IST

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) and Facebook are engaged in a war of letters over responses to its consultation paper on differential pricing for data services that were submitted via the social networking giant’s campaign.

Trai disputed Facebook’s claim - made in a January 6 letter - that over 11 million people used its platform to respond to the paper, saying it received only 1.89 million responses.

Earlier, the regulator had raised doubts about whether Facebook had done enough to reach out to all the respondents and ask them to answer what was specifically asked.

In a letter to Facebook on January 1, the regulator wrote: “You are requested to give your response to the specific questions raised…so as to facilitate the authority to frame regulatory guidelines on the matter.”

The authority also pasted its link in the message so that all respondents could go to the link, read the paper in detail and then frame their answers.

Facebook wrote back on January 6, saying it will not be able to do so for respondents who had conveyed their support through missed call alerts since it didn’t have their email ids.

Moreover, the company said, the responses had been revised to adhere to what Trai had sought - specific answers to the four questions. “We believe the answers clearly address the queries raised by you in the consultation paper as the comments clearly support Free Basics to continue to operate under any regulatory regime,” Facebook wrote.

Trai, though, isn’t buying Facebook’s argument. “They are a technology company. All they needed to do was send them the URL to our consultation paper through an SMS,” an official said, adding that the consultation wasn’t about Free Basics, which Facebook sought to convert into a sort of referendum.

The regulator doubts if Facebook clearly communicated its message to users and allowed them to frame their responses in full knowledge of the subject. In a follow-up letter on January 7 reviewed by ET, the regulator told Facebook, “We are unable to make out whether you have communicated Trai’s response to all your users.” Facebook didn’t respond to an emailed request for comment till press time.

The tension between Trai and Facebook started on December 31, when the regulator extended the deadline for responses to its consultation paper and said that 1.4 million responses sent by Facebook were in a template form and didn’t address the queries raised by it. The regulator is trying to formulate a policy on whether some data services can be priced differently.

Trai officials said that while Facebook is trying to convert the consultation process into an opinion poll in favour of Free Basics, the paper is not about a product but about data services being priced differentially and whether this distorts access to the Internet.

The regulator received close to 2.4 million responses to its consultation paper, of which 1.89 million came through Facebook’s platform to promote Free Basics. The consultation paper has sparked off another debate on net neutrality, with Facebook campaigning for Free Basics, which it claims is aimed at bringing unconnected Indians online.